Oh guys, it is too good not to tell you that story about gasoline. I know it is not gun related, but I have the feeling many of you will enjoy.
Each familly has its stories they like to tell during famillies gathering. Mine had manies. I remember to hear that one almost every year during the Christmas Holidays.
It was the end of the sixties. it was cold and it snowed all night but I assume the sun was out because My grand ma was putting the clothes on the clothe line. (Yes, she as doing it winter like summer) She was about 50 feet facing the garage doors. My grand pa was a cigar smoker. As soon as he was getting out of the door, he was lightning up his cigar.
I guess he was excited to try his almost brand new snow blower. I remember, it was a big, noisy, yellow and black Toro. By the way, when I bought my first house in 1996, I used that same snow blower in my driveway. In that time, if you maintainned your stuff, it lasted forever.
She saw him open the small side door, then open the 2 barn like doors. He pulled out the car, then went in the back of the garage. Suddently, she said she heard a POOOOOOOF then saw my grand pa flying back out the garage in the big snow bank with a ball of fire in his hands missing the car he embedded in the 4-5 feet of snow by an hair.
His only naked parts of his body, hands and face were reddish, he had no longer any hair on the back of his handsand his eyebrows were gone. But he still had his damn (my grand ma never swore but she used that word each time she said the story 'maudit' we are French canadians) cigar in his mouth.
My grand pa used an allumette to check the level of the metal gas can and he ignited the vapors. By the luck of God, it did mot explode but was transformed in a ricket and it gave us a story that gave us hours of laugh at his expense.
This is the story as I heard it from my first crhismas with them in 1968 when I could not understand or remember up to 1997 when he died. Exagerated or not, I can't say..... But writing it put a small in my face and a small thing in my eye making it wattery.